2: Stanza | One of the divisions of a poem composed of two or more lines usually characterized by a common pattern of meter, rhyme, and number of lines. | The Lamb William Blake Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? Gave thee life, and bid thee feed, By the stream and o'er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing, woolly, bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice? Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? Little Lamb, I'll tell thee, Little Lamb, I'll tell thee. He is called by thy name, For He calls Himself a Lamb. He is meek, and He is mild; He became a little child. I a child, and thou a lamb, We are called by His name. Little Lamb, God bless thee! Little Lamb, God bless thee!

3: Little Lamb, I'll tell thee, Little Lamb, I'll tell thee. He is called by thy name, For He calls Himself a Lamb. He is meek, and He is mild; He became a little child. I a child, and thou a lamb, We are called by His name. Little Lamb, God bless thee! Little Lamb, God bless thee! | The Lamb continued:

4: Irony | The use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning. | The fire station burned down in the night because the smoke detectors weren't working.

5: Pun | The usually humorous use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another word similar in sound. I know a rancher who has 100 head of cattle, but he thought there were only 99 until he rounded them up.

7: Sun | The sun tells a story of a worker in the fields fighting to keep food on the table. Of a child on the playground laughing with her friends. Of a flower in a pot making a meal. Of water in a lake leaving the earth. Of a cloud in the sky giving roots a drink. Of you, of me. If only the sun could speek.

8: “Birches” – Robert Frost WHEN I see birches bend to left and right Across the line of straighter darker trees, I like to think some boy's been swinging them. But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay. Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them 5 Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning After a rain. They click upon themselves As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel. Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells 10 Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust— Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen. They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load, And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed 15

9: So low for long, they never right themselves: You may see their trunks arching in the woods Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair Before them over their heads to dry in the sun. 20 But I was going to say when Truth broke in With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm (Now am I free to be poetical?) I should prefer to have some boy bend them As he went out and in to fetch the cows— 25 Some boy too far from town to learn baseball, Whose only play was what he found himself, Summer or winter, and could play alone. One by one he subdued his father's trees By riding them down over and over again 30

10: Until he took the stiffness out of them, And not one but hung limp, not one was left For him to conquer. He learned all there was To learn about not launching out too soon And so not carrying the tree away 35 Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise To the top branches, climbing carefully With the same pains you use to fill a cup Up to the brim, and even above the brim. Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish, 40 Kicking his way down through the air to the ground. So was I once myself a swinger of birches; And so I dream of going back to be. It's when I'm weary of considerations, And life is too much like a pathless wood 45

11: Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs Broken across it, and one eye is weeping From a twig's having lashed across it open. I'd like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over. 50 May no fate wilfully misunderstand me And half grant what I wish and snatch me away Not to return. Earth's the right place for love: I don't know where it's likely to go better. I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree, 55 And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more, But dipped its top and set me down again. That would be good both going and coming back. One could do worse than be a swinger of birches. 60

14: TPCASTT | T: Without reading the poem, I think the title tells that the poem is about trees, growing up, and life's journey, P: Robert Frost describes in the first part of the poem the birches after the ice storm. It seems that he isn't facing reality because he is thinking a lot about what he wishes happened to the bent trees. Until later in the poem, he doesn't talk about what actually made the trees bend. C: From line seven to thirteen, the author show imagery. The imagery that Frost demonstrates literally means that the sun is coming out and melting the snow. Figuratively however, I think it means

15: that everything is awakening and coming out. The beginning of new life and the awakening of a young child. - The similie (lines eighteen and neneteen) is saying that the place by the birches has been abandoned for a long period of time. So long, that many leaves have collected. I think the trails are represented by the girls and the leaves are represented by their hair. The girls' hair is thick and vibrant, similar to the leaves that collected over the years. - The symbolism (line fifty six) tells about a trek from a bad place, to a good one. He wants to get away from his adulthood and go back to his carefree childhood. - The last sentance when he says " One could do worse than be a swinger of birches." I think that the sentance means that his life could have turned out worse. Throughout the whole poem, he is telling about what he

16: wished happened and what he wished he could go back to. By the end of the poem, he realizes that he should be happy that he had even once in his life swung on the birches and had a good life. Even though the best time of his life is over, he knows that his life could be a lot worse than it is. A- His attitude on the birches is positive. He associates them with being free of care, being a child, and going back to a simpler time. He has a negative attitude towards the ice storms. They bent the branches on the trees, therefore he associates the ice storms with disrupting his childhood. S- When he says " So was I once myself a

17: swinger of birches", that reveals that he is the boy swinging on birches. He makes it clear that he wants to go back to being a kid. T- The theme is the last line of the poem. The line pretty much summarizes the entire poem. That he loved his childhood and that he wants to go back to it. | T- The title is the birches which Robert Frost played on as a child. They represent him growing up and having a life.